TV Shipments Driven by Budget Smart TVs in 2019: Counterpoint

• Shipments of non-smart TVs grew by seven per cent Year-on-Year(YoY) in 2019
• 2019 marked the entry of smartphone brands such as Motorola, Nokia and OnePlus in the smart TV market

Shipments of TVs in India grew 15 per cent annually to reach the highest-ever 15 million units in 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s TV Tracker service. This growth was mainly driven by budget smart TVs with 32-inch TVs the leading segment and penetrating sub-US$150 price bands.

“Non-smart TV grew by seven per cent YoY in 2019. While Samsung, LG, Sony are experiencing a YoY decrease in their non-smart TV business, brands like BPL, Sansui and others are still banking on the non-smart TV segment that mainly caters to the rural market, B2B segment or a second bedroom TV in many cases,” stated Debasish Jana, research analyst, Counterpoint.

200 million potential TV households

India, as the report highlighted, is one of the largest markets in the world with more than 200 million potential TV households. Android is leading the smart TV market when it comes to the operating system (OS) with a 30 per cent market followed by Samsung and LG’s homegrown TV platforms Tizen and WebOS respectively. The Indian smartphone market is dominated by Android and that may influence consumer smart TV purchase decisions.

“India is one of the largest markets in the world with more than 200 million potential TV households and is still underpenetrated which makes India a more attractive growth market for the entire TV and content value chain. The growing number of smartphone users in India is also driving a need for Smart TV as users look to continue their streaming content consumption on the bigger screens when at home,” explained senior analyst Karn Chauhan.

He added, “The broader broadband penetration in the home will further drive the overall smart TV usage. Though affordability and value for money are the key growth drivers. The new crop of brands such as Xiaomi, TCL and others are tapping their existing relationships with e-commerce channels such as Flipkart, Amazon, etc to successfully distribute the TVs affordably with a direct-to-consumer model,”

Xiaomi, TCL, VU taking on LG, Sony, and Panasonic

Brands like Xiaomi, TCL, VU have been expanding over the last few years taking on incumbents such as Samsung, LG, Sony, and Panasonic. Furthermore, 2019 was marked by the entry of smartphone brands such as Motorola, Nokia, OnePlus with their Smart TVs looking to build a connected device story complementing their smartphone devices.

“These new-age brands from Xiaomi to OnePlus are offering high specifications, some unique features at highly affordable price-points targeting urban users via e-commerce channels. This has led to some serious price-cuts by competition during the year to match the value proposition from these Chinese brands leveraging the cost-effective e-commerce channels,” stated Jana.

He added, “Samsung continues to lead the overall TV market but the emerging smart TV segment is being cornered by the newer players. Smart TV was the fastest-growing segment up 25 per cent YoY. The smart TV market in India was mostly driven by brands like Xiaomi, Samsung and emerging tail brands such as TCL, Vu and others, which are leveraging their growing channel presence both online and offline to target the new users and upgrade users.”